Stetson University head baseball coach Steve Trimper announced today the promotion of pitching coach Dave Therneau to Associate Head Coach.
“Dave has obviously done a tremendous job, not only in developing our pitching staff, but also in recruiting quality student-athletes to represent Stetson University,” Trimper said. “The numbers speak for themselves about the success of our pitching staff under Dave’s leadership, but it is also impressive that he took players who were not drafted out of high school and turned them into draft quality professional players.”
Therneau, who just finished his third season as a member of the Stetson coaching staff, has helped to rewrite the Hatters’ pitching record book, including an incredible performance this past spring.
“Nothing is changing, I am going to continue to do the same things I have been doing,” Therneau said. “This promotion is based on what we have done in the past and there is no better honor than to have your employer do something like this.
“It means a lot to me that they recognize what we have been able to accomplish over the last three years. It was not something I asked for, and it was certainly not something they had to do, but I am very grateful for it and I won’t take it for granted.”
The numbers for Stetson’s pitching staff under Therneau are staggering.
- Stetson pitchers have established a new record for strikeouts in a season each of the past three years.
- The 2016 staff recorded 485 strikeouts, breaking the previous mark, which was set in 2011.
- The 2017 staff added to the record, finishing with 538 strikeouts while also posting the best team ERA for a season (3.80) since 1996.
- In 2018 the Hatters blew that mark away, posting 635 strikeouts to tie for the NCAA lead with Florida State. That mark was almost 100 more than the next best single season total in ASUN history.
- Stetson pitchers posted nine total shutouts during the 2018 season, tying the school record and tying with UCF for the most in the nation.
- Stetson tied the school record for wins in a season (48) and set a new record for best winning percentage (.786), which also ranks as the fourth best in ASUN history.
- Stetson posted a team ERA of 2.66 in 2018 to lead the nation in that category. It was the best ERA for a Hatters team since the 1972 club posted a 2.03 mark in the wood bat era.
- Logan Gilbert established a new school record with 163 strikeouts to lead the nation.
- The Hatters had three pitchers with more than 100 strikeouts, joining with Rice (2002, 2003 & 2005) as the only program to accomplish that feat more than once. Stetson also had three pitchers with 100 or more strikeouts in 2017.
- Brooks Wilson established a new program record with 20 saves during the 2018 season. That mark also broke the old ASUN record and tied for the best mark in the country.
- Stetson led the nation in WHIP (walks + hits per inning) with a 1.11 mark in 2018.
- The Hatters also led the nation in fewest hits allowed per nine innings (6.81) in 2018.
- All six Stetson players who were drafted following the 2018 season – pitchers Gilbert, Wilson, Jack Perkins, Joey Gonzalez and Ben Onyshko along with catcher Austin Hale – worked directly with Therneau. A total of seven Hatters hurlers have been drafted since he joined the Stetson coaching staff.
“Dave – along with the great recruiting and teaching that Joe Mercadante and Brandon Brewer have done over the last two years – has provided our players with tremendous leadership and has our program headed in the direction we all believed it could go,” Trimper said. “I am excited that we have been able to take this step to keep him as a part of the Stetson baseball program moving forward.”
Before joining the Stetson coaching staff prior to the 2016 season, Therneau – who is a native of Denton, Texas – spent eight seasons as the pitching coach at Embry-Riddle in Daytona Beach.
